Purge
by IrateFate
Summary: [ON HIATUS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE] Sasuke, an adolescent teen with an abusive father and an awol mother. Naruto, a sophomore who has a gay friend and knows next nothing about himself. Sasuke, battling depression, meets Naruto in Art Class and soon find that they have plenty in common, but will Sasuke be willing to open up to the upper classman? m/m sasunaru, don't like, don't read.
1. prologue

This is my first fanfic on here, I've never published anything. I don't know what to make of this, so if anyone could tell me what they think of it and give me pointers about things I could do to improve my work, that would be greatly appreciated. Happy reading!

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><p><em>Are we born to be broken, sinners, and thieves?<em>  
><em>Someone tell the heavens, I'm ready to escape! (You!)<em>  
><em>This is not what I wanted, not what I need!<em>  
><em>Take it all, tear it all, rip it all away!<em>

_I can't say the Devil made me do it._  
><em>I chose to be the one I am, the way I am today.<em>  
><em>I wish there was, but there's no way around it.<em>  
><em>In the end I made the choice, and will not die ashamed.<em>

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><p>"So? How was it?" a boy with brown hair asked. The other he was addressing sat on the porch of his house drinking a coke. The one on the porch, a boy his same age, said, "Well I slept. Anything new there? That thing's boring as hell. Pun intended." the brown haired boy laughed.<p>

"Kiba, is it true? You know, what they've been saying?" The boy suddenly asked, addressing the other, Kiba, seriously.

"What? What have people been saying?" replied Kiba, suddenly nervous and shifty, trying to avoid eye contact with his friend.

"Ah well, you know. The one about you being... uh, a fag?" He whispered the last word, afraid his mother would hear him.

Kiba gave him a look of complete and utter vulnerability. "Well, uh.. I mean.. what would you think of me if I was?"

The blond took his time looking at his best friend. He didn't want to say anything that would hurt him, he loved his best friend. Loved him just as he would have loved a brother. If he had one, Kiba would be it.

"Please, please! Don't hate me! I didn't mean to be like this I swear! I'm so, so sorry!" he began to sob. All the blond boy could do was walk up to his friend and hold him close. He let the boy sob on his shoulder. He might not understand what he was going through, but he could be there for him, especially when he knew no everyone else might not be.

School was rough for the next few days, they never really talked much, all Naruto could do was be there for Kiba whenever he could, stand up to some losers when they decided to pull something. All he did was think, and think.

_Three years later..._

"Naruto! Get up! That's rude!" The teen, addressed as Naruto, shook his head and stood from where he was resting during the Sunday mass. His mother, the one who woke him, took his fathers arm and led them out of the main hall and out into the parking lot.

The family got in their car, a white van, and started the short drive home. "So what do you guys want for dinner?" his mother asked. Minato, Naruto's father looked at him before saying, "Chicken, please? I'll pay." Kushina just shook her head and smiled. The calm Sunday breeze hitting them in the face from the open windows.

The drive home had been short, normal, simple. It was nothing new to any of the people in the car. It was the same routine they had fallowed for years. In the same medium sized town, same school, same friends. It was all the same. Like a frozen picture. Nothing moved, nothing changed, and the gossip repeated and no one had anything worthwhile to talk about. The same people held the same grudges, and had the same squabbles.

When they got home Naruto went to his room, got online, talked with some friends, and waited for dinner. When he went down for dinner, he sat down with his family, they talked about simple things. It was normal, nothing was out of place, everything was happy, homely, warm. When dinner was over Naruto went upstairs, sat on his bed and looked out the window.

"Why is everything so normal? Why doesn't it change?" he whispered out into the midnight air. his eyes began to droop closed and he began to snore softly as he began to drool on his desk.


	2. Chapter 1

okay, well since I couldn't hold off any more I decided that I would post today. I hope you like it, although I warn you it's a bit heavy compared to last time. I want to focus on it like this.. I'm a bit of a depressing person.. xD anyways, off you go, review and tell me what i could do to make it better!

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><p>The filthy bathroom light flickered, hanging by a thin cord. The soft dim glow it let off shrouded most of the bottles on the counter in darkness, it created long and dark shadows on the walls. The boy standing in front of the sink looked into the broken and cracked mirror, he looked into his eyes, full of loathing and self hatred. He hated the way he looked, he hated who he was, he hated the very existence of himself. He was the worthless scum of the earth. Filth.<p>

In a rash decision he took what he had held in his and for the past ten or more minutes, a sharp piece of glass, and held it before his face. It glinted in the soft light, it looked sharp and dangerous. He had told himself that what he did in this room was wrong and disgusting; it didn't change the rituals. He was already wrong and disgusting, what more could he do?

The glass would give him what he wanted most of all, it would bring him to that place where nothing hurt, where everything was in the sun and there was nothing that could harm him. He could smile, he would be happy. It was something he hadn't felt in a few years now. The piece of glass could give him everything. It was also ironic. Hurt to feel, hurt to be happy. Feel pain to feel elated.

He closed his eyes and felt with his hand as he took the sharp edge of the glass to his thin, white wrist. He slowly dragged it across the blank canvas, the picture he drew was simple, it was a line of red. The paint he used to stain this canvas was red, he let it drip from both sides and it met on the bottom at fell down in loose drops. Splattering the floor, staining it again. He took the glass shard back into his hand, and took it to the ghastly white pale of his wrist and added another line to the sinfully beautiful, bloody picture he was painting.

Each stoke he added let one thing he hated about himself, his life, and what others thought drift farther and farther away from him. He was getting to that place. It was harder this time, he noted. He took the glass up one more time, it was dripping with the red huge of his blood by now. It was a lovely sight to see, really. If there could have bee a photograph taken then it would be a masterpiece. A disturbing masterpiece.

He put the glass down on the counter, daring to look up. What he saw didn't surprise him, he was used to it. Never the less, it still disgusted him. His pale face, framed with black bangs, his naturally dark eyes looked dead and dull, the whites of them were tinted pink from the crying and the lack of sleep. Tear tracks marked his cheeks. He looked like a mess, he was a mess. A mess that was worthless. A ugly, gross, revolting mess, he decided. A mess that was sobbing again.

The teen he saw in the mirror didn't even want to be saved anymore, he had given that up ages ago. A lost cause. The funny thing, he supposed, was that no one had even noticed him slip away. He wasn't here anymore. No one knew he needed saving.

He fell forward then, his hands desperately holding onto the sink, his head snapped to the right and he looked at the wrist he had chosen to abuse that night. It looked horrid, it was red, throbbing and profusely bleeding. He felt dizzy and light headed, everything began to spin. He knew tonight he had gone too far. The moment he stepped into the bathroom he had intentions of ending it, but he couldn't. He was too scared of what might happen, he couldn't end it. He was a coward.

He fell to the floor, the glass clattered to the floor somewhere beside him with a "ting". He groped for his phone in his pants pocket. He needed someone, anyone. He was scared, worried. He didn't want to die, not really. If he had found the time to think about it then he would have found a way to reason with himself that he _did _want to die.

His hand found the phone, it showed the time was a little after midnight, he tried to steady his hand so that he could call the number he knew would pick up. After what seemed like hours he pushed the call button. It rang and rang, then a voice came on, it sounded a bit sleepy but the teen on the floor made no notice of that, he felt himself becoming more and more sleepy. He knew he was going to fade soon, this might be the end, he panicked.

"Hello," he heard the other say, this time more demanding and impatient.

"I need help," was all he had time to mutter before he dropped the phone on the cold hard ground and faded from the waking world, hoping that someone would find him and care.

"Hello? Are you there? Hello, Sasuke!"

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><p>"Hey, did you hear?"<p>

"Hear what?" A girl with bright pink hair in a small ponytail on the top of her head asked her friend before class would begin.

"Some looser from our class tried to kill himself yesterday." The blond smirked and looked back at the pink haired teen sitting across from her.

She gasped, death didn't set well with her, she asked, "Do you know who he was?" the girl across from her shook her head, pale blond locks falling all around her shoulders and in one eye.

"Oh, okay. Do you know how it happened?" Another shake of the head, Sakura nodded and left to go to her first class of the day. She had never been the type of person to care about others business, seeing how others were constantly in hers. But this, this made her angry and distraught. She had never really cared for other people, she had always kept to herself and tried to make her point to never let others get in her way, but she felt she had the right to know who it was. She made it her duty to know everything in the school. After all, it was _her_ school.

Sometime during second period, an average size teen came into class late, he got an earful from the teacher about him being so. The teen didn't seem to be listing much and the teacher gave him a look and sent him to his seat.

His seat was one in the very back, alone. He had no one by him. Sakura wondered why she had never noticed this before, wondered why she had never noticed _him_ before.

The boy in the back had on a black jumper over his school uniform and had the hood pulled up half way, covering the back of his head. He had black hair and bangs that hung down by the sides of his face and dull dark gray eyes. He looked exhausted. She felt kind of bad for him, but she didn't know him, and no one else seemed to, so therefore she shouldn't either.

He was late. Not for the first time in that month, so in return he got his ear chewed off in front of the class. Not that he cared, it was just another thing to add to "The embarrassments of Sasuke Uchiha". He sighed. Today was going to be another long day.

The bell rang and he walked out of the room after everyone had left and traveled down the hall at an average pace as to not be noticed. He never really was but he didn't want it to happen anyway so he tired as best he could to avoid attention. And right now would be a fine time for life to bite him in the ass, seeing as he was all over the school today. Or at least what he had done was all over, he had every intention of keeping the fact he was the one they were talking about to himself.

"Hey, Sasuke!" Called someone farther down the hall, the dark haired boy, addressed as such, walked a bit faster.

"Hey, Gaara." He said when he found said red-head by his locker. The other had a look of concern plastered on his face. Gaara, normally didn't try to enter contact with anyone. But for Sasuke he made an exception and pulled him into a welcome and much needed hug. Sasuke hugged back, loving the feeling of someone caring and loving hold him.

Normally, Sasuke hated touching others and personal contact, but at this very moment he didn't mind one bit.

"Thanks, I needed that," He smiled, "Lets go to art." The rare smile that graced Sasuke's lips lit up Gaara's face as they walked towards the high school for Advanced Art. Art was held with the sophomores in a separate building.

When they walked into the building, all Sasuke could do was notice how many people were in the room. He began to panic, he hated being around so many people. He always thought that they were talking about him, judging him, hating him. He hated it when the all turned to look at him at once, did they know? Were they all talking about him, what if they did? The brunet shook his head to rid himself of the thoughts, now was not the time to have a panic attack. Not when so many could see him. Not when they would really have a reason to talk about him.

"Hello class, I would like to say welcome to the new students from the 9th grade class, and congratulations for receiving the recommendation for joining us. Now lets begin. Today I would like to talk about the history of Christian and Catholic art in the 18th century, and the meaning behind some of the more famous paintings and sculptures-" the teacher drawled on about the art and meanings and also the artistes themselves, while Sasuke sat in the back looking down under the desk at his phone. He was texting one of his other friends from another state about some band they liked when suddenly he was shook by Gaara, "What?" He asked startled.

"You need a partner for this, did you not even hear a word she said?" Gaara massaged his temples. Sasuke shook his head, he had barely paid attention at all.

"Fine, well, lets get started."

The class dragged on for another half hour, they spent their time looking at paintings in a book and what they thought the meanings were behind them other then the obvious.

Across the room sat a high school student, Naruto. He had no one he really knew in this class so he sat alone, and no clue what to make of the art. It all looked quite beautiful but he had heads nor tails of what might make a "hidden meaning" in them.

He sighed and rested his head on the table, today was one weird day. Instead of hearing his friends go off about the latest break up of so and so, the halls were filled with talk of an attempted suicide of some 9th grader. That worried him greatly, why on earth would some kid, not even eighteen want to die? What could make life that bad for them?

Naruto had plenty of ideas why a kid would want to die, he knew others in this school were ruthless and could tear anyone to shreds with nothing but a few choice words. Another sigh, who was the kid anyway? He doubted they were even at school today anyways. He heard a laugh from across the classroom, turning his head in the direction he saw two teen girls in the corner, they were both from the 9th grade class, and they were looking at another pair of boys from the 9th grade class.

He strained his ears for a sliver of what they might be spoken next.

"You think that's him?" Asked the first girl, she had her hair in two buns. She looked at her companion, the latter nodded.

"So the looser finally had enough of us?" The one who had spoken had long blond hair. Naruto had seen her around before in the halls, always laughing, head of the cheer team he suspected, or at least a very important member of it.

_Who were they talking about,_ he wondered. That's when a head of dark black hair looked up at the girls with a glare, and went back to his paper.

Naruto listened back on the two girls,

"I guess it serves him right. I mean who the hell did he think he was, stealing my boyfriend like that?" The blond demanded in a shrill voice.

"You know he was just kidding, Neji never liked him. He did it to mess with him. Why does that make Sasuke the bad guy?" the other asked.

"Because hes a good for nothing fucking fag. That's what." they both laughed at that, it made Naruto sick. He hated people like that. He may not know the whole story behind what he had just heard but by the looks of it he didn't like the two girls. Or what they called people.

Class ended, and Naruto still had no project. The boy on the other side of the room, Sasuke, as the girls called him, made to give the teacher his project when one of the girls walked by purposely knocking it out of his hands and the papers went flying all over the floor, only to be walked on by the other students in a rush to get out. Naruto went over to the boy and began picking the papers up and handed them to Sasuke.

"Thanks," he heard the other boy mumble. He was looking down at his torn converse shoes.

"No prob'," the older teen smiled. Sasuke's lips twitched on the corners. Naruto wanted to talk to this kid, he seemed different from the others, he seemed mature and kind. To keep the conversation going he said, "So your name is Sasuke, right?" the latter nodded.

"I'm Naruto." he held out his hand for the other to shake, Sasuke gently shook his hand. To Naruto, his hands were small and lithe. His skin seemed pale and white, like snow. He chuckled. How poetic.

"You find something funny?" the other asked, his voice sounded guarded. The blond boy quickly shook his head,

"No, of course not. What would make you think that?" he asked, not really noticing the words coming out of his mouth. Sasuke glared at him and left. He had left his papers on the teachers desk, having organized them while talking to Naruto.

As soon as Sasuke left the room, he felt bad. He felt rude for just leaving the other teen like that, but he had somewhere to be and he had never talked to anyone in a higher class for that long before. His social panic had got the better of him, and the last comment had really set him on edge. If anyone could become more aware of him they would know "whats wrong" or if they could see that maybe they were "whats wrong".

He had heard Tenten and Ino talking in Art, he knew they were onto him and that it was likely to be all over school with in the next hour. He sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. The raven haired boy walked back to the main school building by himself, seeing as Gaara had left long ago to meet up with his brother about something or other. Most likely drugs or something of that sort.

It was lunchtime, he grabbed his back pack from his locker and headed outside to the lawn with the trees on the edge, where he would go when he wanted to he alone. He could feel the stares of his classmates as he walked through the room to the doors, he hated them. He hated them all.

Pulling his phone and iPod out and plugged in his headphones, music. That's what would make him feel better. He didn't eat, he couldn't find it in him to eat, he hated eating when he felt down or sad. He didn't want to be the kind of person that would turn to food when they were upset, or he would be a house by now. Sasuke decided that he would not eat when he felt that way, which sadly happened more often then not, and left him looking skinny and feeling ravenous.

_ They dedicate their lives  
>To running all of his.<br>He tries to please them all –  
>This bitter man he is.<br>Throughout his life the same –  
>He's battled constantly.<br>This fight he cannot win –  
>A tired man they see no longer cares.<em>

The music flowed through him, every word describing how he felt. Soon he felt hot liquid rolling down his face, he knew he was crying, he knew people could see. he knew they were about to start talking, so he wiped his face clean of any trace of his sorrows and stood up, headphones still in and walked into the building, knowing that he left his stuff in the grass by the tree. He traveled through the school, looking for a place to be, a place to cry freely.

He wandered aimlessly for what seemed to be ten minutes, until he came across a room that looked abandoned. It was somewhere in the back of the school where people no longer went. It was a part of the school that closed down when the funding was cut and they could no longer sponsor the classes held there.  
>Inside the classroom was a bunch of empty desks piled on top of one another and the chairs all stacked in the back. There was a bunch of open space in the middle. He decided that this would do, and sat down. He willed the tears to come, now, he was alone in the room. They didn't. He didn't feel sad any longer. So he pulled out one earphone and began to sing the song he was listing to. It was a beautiful soft melody. Sasuke didn't think he could sing, he hated his voice, but he loved to do it anyway. It made him feel better, to get out how he was feeling without crying or screaming.<p>

When he stooped singing, he looked at the time, he had about fifteen minutes until lunch was over. He wondered if Gaara was looking for him or not, he didn't think the other would be. Sasuke shakily dragged his hands through his hair, he needed to clam down. He needed to make it though the day. He didn't need to come home to his father like this. It would only give him another excuse to tear the teen down and make it that much worse. Kicking someone when they were down was beyond low, but it was easy.

He unlocked his phone and opened some blogging app and began an entry, it was long and detailed but no names were given and nothing would pin point it towards him. He poured out his feelings and his thoughts. He needed to tell someone, anyone how he felt. He couldn't keep all of this to himself anymore. He didn't want to break.

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, Sasuke stood up and brushed himself off. He had to go get his bag and books before he had History and met up with Gaara.

Naruto opened up his phone and logged on to something, Kiba couldn't see what since he was looking over his shoulder. The blond teen sighed and shook his head, Kiba felt the need to ask whats wrong but Naruto beat him to it.

"Do you really think people have to be so mean, I mean this kid is having a really bad time. I cant believe some people act the way he says they do." Kiba shook his head, Naruto always thinking about others. He was always the saint, the knight in shining armor out to save the world.

"Well I don't know what going on but you should help him if you can." he smiled.

"Alright, thanks." Naruto went back to fiddling on his phone, too busy to notice Kiba talking to some girl in the back.

_"Hello, I know you don't know me and I don't know you. But I saw your blog entry and I wanted to email you. I want you to know that you are not alone and that you should just hang in there, you can email me back if you want someone to talk to._

_- Ninetails"_

Naruto sent the reply to the blogger. He hoped it would be enough. Enough for what, no clue. His next class happened to be his favorite, P.E. He loved sports and the way you could relive stress with running. It was a release and he was grateful for it.

He jogged down to the football field the high school had, where the class was held. He met up with one of his other friends, Shikamaru. The boy looked as if he was half asleep all the time and had a boring monotone voice, but the boy could run and has a wicked sense of humor.

They were both on the soccer team and Naruto was positive that they were going to win against The Sand this year. The sand, or the Suna, used to be his old school with his other friend Kankoro. They both transferred sometime around 8th grade.

"Listen up, students. Today is going to be different. I want you all to pair up and kick a ball around. When the bell rings for half time I want you all to come back here for an assignment. Dismissed!" shouted the teacher, Naruto sighed, he loved the class, hated the teacher. Grabbing Shikamaru's arm he walked off with a soccer ball in his other hand.

"-and therefore most of the nobles around this time held one lover well as a wife." the teacher drawled on. Sasuke placed his head in his arm and looked out the window, he could see the high school P.E class running around on the field. _Like rats running in a maze_, he thought. He picked up his pencil and began to draw one of the figures he saw outside, he had a mop of blond hair, much like the boy from the sophomore class. The rest of the class went by relatively fast, and soon the brunet found himself walking down the halls in search of Gaara.

"Gaara, I'm leaving now." he announced when he was within earshot of the other boy. Gaara walked away from the crowd of friends surrounding him and went up to Sasuke, "Will you be alright? You know you can always come to my place." he nodded,

"I'll be fine, but if it gets bad I'll call you and walk to your place." he gave his friend a hug and left. Walking home Sasuke felt lonely, he missed the presence of someone next to him. He did not often have the presence of someone next to him, but he savored in the warmth of another body near him. He hated the way everyone was so cold towards him, would it harm them to be kinder to him? What ever did he do to them?

When he came into view of the local tailor park he walked in the gate and went to his number, 7. Sasuke saw that the lights were off, that either meant his dad was watching television or that he was passed out. Sighing, he walked in the door, it was left unlocked. _Careless_, he thought.

"Dad? I'm home." he heard a grunt in reply. That was a good sign, he was at least sober enough to not start yelling at him.

He walked to the back where his room was located and shut the door behind him. _Well that's better,_ he thought. The teen cracked a small smile. Pulling his homework out of his bag he began to work, only hearing the dim drone of the TV in the other room. His eyes became very heavy, Sasuke soon found it very hard to keep them open. He put his finished work back in his bag and moved to the bed. Not bothering to remove his shoes, he instantly fell asleep.

Naruto got off the buss with Kiba, "Dude, what about Ino? She's smokin' even if she is an underclassmen. I mean I don't do that kinda thing," he winked, Naruto laughed, "but you might." the other shook his head, not bothering to tell Kiba what he had heard her say to her friend in Art class that day.

"Besides, she's way too young for me." Kiba laughed. They walked up the stairs to the porch of Naruto's house, it was nice and quaint. There were flower beds all over making a colorful mess. He smiled at his mothers antics. Always growing something, loving life.

"We're here!" he shouted out, hearing, "Welcome back," from his mother and, "Have you come to save me?" from his father. Who was promptly hit on the head by Kushina. The boys laughed and headed up to Naruto's room. Where he rushed to his computer on the desk near the window while Kiba made himself at home on the teens bed.

"What are you doing?" Kiba asked, when he looked up from his phone to notice Naruto had not said anything to him.

"Well today I read this thing from this blogger about how bad their day was... so I sent him an email and he replied to me." he sounded unsure.

"Well lets see it then." Kiba said back, he seemed eager, if this made Naruto uneasy this had to be good. He nodded and opened it up, it seemed normal, nothing odd about it, he read it out loud for Kiba,

"_Thank you for you support. But I don't think you fully understand. It means a lot to me that someone would take the time out of their day for me. And no, I would not mind talking to you. I would love to talk you. _

_-RavenTears"_

Kiba whistled, "Well that's new. what did you say to the guy?" Naruto pulled up his first email, Kiba laughed.

"You like him or something, dude? You sound like you wanna get in his pants."

The blond turned red, he had never really thought of being with a boy much, but he had never really thought about girls either. Besides he didn't even know what this 'raventears' person looked like, let alone their age.

"No." he said defiantly. Kiba was not phased. Naruto pretended to slam his head on his desk as Kiba nearly fell off of his bed in his endless mirth.

"Don't even," Naruto warned his friend and he shot a pointed look in his direction. Kiba sobered up and looked back at him, "Don't even what?" he tested.

Naruto looked back at his computer screen and said, "You know what, mister." Kiba barked out a laugh and went back to his phone. Time went on like this for a while until night began to fall and Kushina called the boys down for dinner.

"Oh, chicken pot pies! My favorite! I love you Ms. K." Kiba exclaimed form down the stairs, Naruto rolled his eyes at his friends antics. He joined the other members of the house in saying the prayer, Kiba was not part of it. When they were done giving thanks he began to dig in jut like his friend next to him, but with much less enthusiasm.

The replay from the Raventears person was nagging at his mind. They had said that he didn't "fully understand", what was that supposed to mean? _How could I even begin to understand when all I know is what they post? _He pulled at his hair in frustration in his head. Outwardly he squinted his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows, the only signs that he was thinking about something frustrating.

Taking another bite, his plate was almost half way eaten and he was barely even fallowing the conversation going on at the table. There had been multiple posts like the ones he saw today, and how they managed to find their way onto his dash was not a mystery. Naruto had not always been the person he pretended to be. He was not always happy and cheerful. Once he had been really scared and sad. He had once attempted to end his life.

It was a dark time he rarely thought about now, a time that he pretended that had not happened. It had been a very lousy attempt, and his parents still treated him differently because of it, like he was a time bomb about to go of if the wrong thing was said.

He knew that this person had probably never attempted to take their own life, and he hoped that they never would.

After Kiba had gone home and his parents had retired back tho their room together Naruto sat still in the living room where he stared into the ceiling as if the answer to life would suddenly appear to him. He sat there and lost track of time, when he finally found it in himself to move he noticed that it was late. And he had school the next day, Naruto sighed. There was not enough time in the world for all the sleep he seemed to need.

Naruto made his way up the stairs and shut the door behind him. His room was cold, because he had not been in it, he was not sure. The teen didn't care, he fell face first into the bed and fell asleep without taking his clothes off or pulling the clovers up.


	3. Chapter 2 Constant Hunger

_Hey, I'm sorry it's been a while, schools been kicking my ass and i haven't had much time.. hope you like. also, it's a shorter one this time, I have no excuses._

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><p>Not long after he had thrown himself on the bed had the alarm go off at 6:00am sharp. Like always, he got up, stiff and sore form the day before, and moved to the bathroom to get ready. Not really feeling like a shower, he pulled his shirt off of his head and moved to wash his face in the sink when he looked at himself he wasn't sure what to think.<p>

Most people, when they looked in they mirror saw someone they liked and were proud of or someone they hated. Naruto didn't see either, he just saw himself, with his scars on his face. They were light white lines on his cheeks, not really noticeable, but still there if you looked. He could barely remember when he got them, but all he could think of how or when it happened really.

He shook himself and brought his hands up to his face full of freezing water. The rest of the morning went by relatively fast, there was a brief moment of teasing he had to endure form his mother about his choice in clothes. Which were nothing out of the ordinary, but he may or may not have added a few patches to his jacket and had few more than necessary zippers on his pants.

He left the souse with around twenty minutes to spend, he slid into his car and turned it on, Making sure to turn his phone off before he drove anywhere. His car was just another hand-me-down from his mother, when they had gotten some money form another one of his dead relatives and they got a new one and gave him their old one. It wasn't a bad car, but somewhat out of date.

Naruto made a detour to his favorite coffee shop and ordered himself something to go, for him it was much too sweet, but it would have to do. He ran into one of his soccer teammates on the walk black to his car, Shikamaru.

Naruto had known the boy for most of his life, not as long as he had Kiba but almost as long, maybe a year later he had met him. They had been in the same first grade class with Iruka.

There had been a group of them that year, and some years after. It was mainly Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, and him. Kiba and Naruto were always a pair, there was barely anyone who could split them up much was the same for Shikamaru and Choji. They all played on the same team, The Leaf, with a classmate Neji and another boy named Lee. Lee was the oddball of the bunch, Naruto just thought that Neji was stuck-up and rude, he always wanted to be the team caption, funny enough that happened to be Kiba.

"Shika, whats up?" he asked the blond haired teen to the other he was walked towards him. Shikamaru lifted his head in recognition that someone had addressed him.

"Nothin' just trying to get my daily dose of caffeine before I face crowds of losers and loud people." he laughed, Naruto was always amazed with his sense of pessimism.

"Wanna ride?" Naruto asked, Shikamaru nodded his head and they both walked back to the black and orange car.

"I have always been impressed by your cleaning skills, really." Shikamaru said, Naruto laughed, the car was indeed a mess. He really did need to clean it out..

"You'll live, I think you'll be fine." Shikamaru ave him an unbelieving look and slid into the passenger seat.  
>The drive to school was simple, the town was small so it didn't take long before Naruto had found a parking spot and got out, accompanied by Shikamaru. They walked into the doors by the front and Naruto knew that nothing had changed since last time, why he might have expected it to surprised him.<p>

There were the football jocks hanging around the main tables, there were their cheerleader girlfriends hanging on their arms and the wannabes crowded all around them. It was hard to make a way through the room really, and Naruto was about to shout for the boy in front of him to walk faster if he didn't move soon.

By the time the blond teen had made it to first period the bell had nearly rung and he dashed to make it to his seat. His first class being Photography, he had a lot of free time to chat and think, since there was nothing one could really do in that moment at that time in the classroom.

He pulled out his phone, no new posts since yesterday, he thought as he looked at RavenTears' blog. Why he kept going on was still a mystery, maybe he hoped he could help them, he didn't know.

* * *

><p>The alarm rang that morning and Sasuke could barely summon the will to get out of his bed. Although small and a bit hard it was still warm, and to him it was comfy. He slowly pulled one leg after the other out of the bed and made his way across the room to turn the annoying sound off. When he did, he considered throwing himself back into bed. But then his father would be mad he was not in school and probably hit him.<p>

Sasuke sighed, he knew it was wrong what his father did, but there was no one to tell. And no one would believe him anyways, his father was too persuasive, even without his money.

Sasuke pulled his shirt over his head and stripped the rest of his clothes when he got to the bathroom.

He turned the knobs for the water, it came out very cold at first, but after a few seconds it began to warm up. When it was no longer freezing, Sasuke pulled the curtain shut after he stepped in. He let the lukewarm water fall gently on his body, soaking his hair.

He was sore from all the time he had spent at home, thanksgiving break was over and this had been his first week back at school. The teen was quite thankful for the chance to get away from his house for a few hours. Even if he had to endure all of the others at his school.

When he had washed his hair and face he jumped out, there was not a lot of time in the morning for through cleaning. When he got back to his room he grabbed a pair of pants off the floor that had yet to be worn and a shirt from a drawer that was left hanging open.

Sasuke looked back on his bed as his phone buzzed, must be Gaara, He thought. He picked the object up and entered a code, the message had indeed come from Gaara, there was nothing to it really, just a simple "I hope you're doing well and txt me when you get to school." Sasuke replied a "yes" and sat back down on his bed.

He was hungry, but there was nothing in his house to eat, and he didn't want to eat. Eating only made people fat. In the black of his head he heard himself say_ but eating is also essential for living, or else we wouldn't have to._

Sasuke made his way down the shirt hall, only pausing before his brothers room. Itachi and he had always been close, they talked and did things when their dad got too rough and hit them. Itachi was always Sasuke's safe haven, but he hadn't been home in days now. Sasuke knew that Itachi was a busy man and he could be there all of the time. He had to have his own life, not always taking care of his baby brother.

He walked past the door and made for the kitchen, Fugaku was passed out on the couch with an empty beer bottle in his hand. Sasuke sighed, nothing was new there. Things had been different when his mother was around. There were more smiles and less hits, but more screaming and sadness.

Things had been different when the Uchiha corps. were still in operation. Sasuke himself could not really remember much, he had been only about seven whenit fell. But he had heard his fathers drunken tales about how they had lived in a huge house in California and had much money to spend.

According to Fugaku, the Akatsuki had been business partners with them, but when most of the country and industry were going bankrupt they had been conned out of most of the money they had. The Family lost the house, the cars and had to move to another state. All Sasuke could remember was when he had moved into the tailor and the fact that the kids at school never talked or played with him.

He looked at the clock on the microwave, it was almost time to head out and walk to the school. He grabbed a package of pop tarts and a bag of carrots and went back down the hall for his backpack and jacket. When he had gotten all of his things he went out the door, locking it behind him. He left the spare key under the doormat.

His walk to school had been relatively uneventful. No one walked to school, he was the only one that lived close enough, although it was a small town.  
>There were people all around the middle school and high school, everyone was talking with their friends and making loads of noise. The moment he approached them he felt as if everyone stopped to stare at him. They didn't of course, but he left their eyes on the back of his head. Sasuke pulled out his iPod and put in his headphones, feeling the need to drowned away the noise and looks.<p>

He walked up to his first class and set his bag down, there weren't many people in it but when he walked in they all looked up at him and he felt even more sick. There was no stopping it, they all stared at him and he wanted to fade into the background more than anything.  
>He sat down at his desk and pulled out his phone and began to write a blog post.<p>

_"Do you ever just want to fade into the background? Never be noticed? Just disappear? I do. That's all I want, but all people do is stare at me. And I would do whatever to change that. I mean is it the way I dress? Because that's how I express myself, am I not allowed to do that?__  
><em>_What does anyone want from me?__  
><em>_-RavenTears"_

Sasuke sighed, it was going to be another long day. When the bell rang all of the other students flowed into the class room, Sasuke propped his head on his hand and watched them take their seats. The teacher came in soon after and began the lesson by saying,

"Welcome back for another day at school, I have some personal issues I need to take care of, so I am going to leave you in the care of another substitute for about a week. I hope you all treat them well and with respect. Now, for today I want you to look up beliefs before the bible was written and see if you can find anything about how people functioned without religion."

Sasuke sighed, he pulled his chair up to the computer he was in front of and began to type some words into the search bar. The teen didn't find much of what he was looking for when the bell rang and he gathered up all of his things and left for homeroom.

The halls were packed like always, people bumping into each other trying to get to class as fast as possible. Some were lingering in the halls talking to friends, like Gaara and, Sasuke gulped, Neji.

"Hey," Sasuke greeted, Gaara looked up and shot him a small smile.

"Hey," Gaara said back and gave him a hug, Sasuke returned the gesture. There were two other people standing around them and Neji, one of them being Gaara's brother and the other being Haku. Neji nodded a greeting, at which Sasuke glared, and Haku smiled at him and said he had to get to class. Neji left soon after while Gaara walked with Sasuke to homeroom.

"So whats with you and Neji these days?" Gaara asked. Sasuke just shook his head and frowned.

"He's a good for nothing piece of shit. You can have him if that's why you were asking." Gaara laughed and slung his arm around Sasuke's shoulder.

* * *

><p>"Dude, this isn't fair! I mean I get that he's not gay but that doesn't mean she can go around the school getting all the good men! Or rubbing it in my face. Geez." Naruto looked up from his phone while Kiba went off about another one of the many issues he had being, well, him.<p>

"I have no clue what you're going off about now but I'm sorry for your loss of another man." at that Kiba turned red and "humphed" at the back of his friends head. Naruto had been starring at his phone for some time now and it had begun to annoy Kiba. It was their free period now and Naruto was taking full advantage of that. By being on his phone.

On Naruto's screen the teen was scrolling though his dash looking for any new posts. By the time he had searched most of it he updated the page and there was a new post from RavenTears and by the looks of it their day had not begun well. Naruto sighed, why was he bothering to be affected by this person? It didn't matter what their day was like, he didn't know them and they weren't his responsibility. But in truth, Naruto wanted to know more about them, they seemed smart and kind, maybe hardened over but nice person. Maybe he wanted something new in his life, living in a small town grated on your nerves after a while.

Kiba always joked that one day they were going to get out of the town, move somewhere far away in the city and meet people. Have adventures. Naruto really wanted that, but neither of them had any money or any real plans for after high school and the pressure was finally getting to him.

He pulled out his school work an begun to fill out the problems offered and he looked back up at Kiba, "What do you think is going to happen to us after we graduate? I mean I we have nice plans and all.. but where are we really going? I don't know what I want or anything and I have to get my shit together fast."  
>Kiba looked up at his friend and said, "What brought this on? That blogger, man you should stop reading that stuff. And I don't know, I want to go where the wind takes me." he joked. Naruto only smiled, unable to get the thoughts out of his head. He needed a solid plan soon, the wind wouldn't work forever, not in the real world.<p>

_Hello, hello, remember me?__  
><em>_I'm everything you can't control__  
><em>_Somewhere beyond the pain__  
><em>_There must be a way to believe__  
><em>_We can break through_

Sasuke sat at his desk looking at the other students in the room. Most of them were all talking and laughing. Having fun, like there was nothing wrong, and there probably wasn't. He sighed, everyone was always so happy, he didn't know of he should feel envious or remorseful that he was not one of them.

Sighing he looked up at the clock and waited for the teacher to enter the room. When he did, his first instruction was for them that there was a pep rally for the school they had to attend. He sighed, to be such close confines with so many other people was really going to grate on his nerves.

There was a collective groan from the students as they moved out the door to the gym at the end of the school, where they met up with other students from the other classes. They all moved as one mass from the hall to the double open doors at the end of the hall that led into the gym. As Sasuke neared the doors he felt a slight twinge of pain, there were going to be people sitting on the bleachers that could look at him as he tried to find a seat.

It wasn't the fact tat were going to see him really, but the fact that he didn't want anyone to look at him, he felt trapped that way. All of the freshmen had the left side of the bleachers, which meant that they had to walk the full length of the gym to get to find a seat, Sasuke glared, whomever made this decision should be punished.

He walked as fast as he could without drawing too much attention to himself when he saw Gaara and some other people he didn't know all sitting together, there was no room for him to sit there, Sasuke sighed. There was no way he would sit by Gaara apparently, he looked around for another seat. All of the other kids were finding seats and he began to panic. Climbing the bleachers he found a small spot in the very back, next to some kid he had seen in the sophomore gym class from the window in History.

"Hello, um, could I maybe take this seat?" he asked, inside he cringed at how childish his voice had been. The boy looked up, he had a thick mop of dark brown hair and what looked to be upside down triangles on his cheeks. Weather they were makeup or tattoos were still a question. The older teen smiled and nodded, "Freshmen?" he inquired.

"Yeah, sorry to bother you.. there was no room," the boy nodded in understanding.

"I'm Kiba," he glanced over to the light skinned freshman with interest. The boy looked back at him and said, "Sasuke," they both nodded.

Kiba stole another glance at the boy, he was very pale, but it didn't seem like it was unhealthy. There was no doubt that he boy was attractive, he had dark eyes and pale pink lips, he also seemed fragile. Kiba found no attraction to him what-so-ever, but he could still appreciate the beauty, whomever didn't was clearly not right in the head, well, at least to Kiba.

A senior student walked out to the center of the room and cleared her throat through the microphone to get the attention of the students. Most everyone turned to look at her as she began to talk about some school event, others just kept talking in hushed voices, Sasuke on the other hand pulled out his phone and logged onto the blogging site and scrolled through some posts.

When that bored him he decided since he hadn't looked at anyone's blog in a while that it was overdue. The first one he managed to type in was NineTails when the page loaded, he looked at the bio, it was simple. No name was given and there were a few fandoms listed. Simple. He sighed, there was positively nothing to do and they were stuck in this room until lunch, a rather long assembly in his opinion.

Sasuke looked over at the upperclassmen sitting to his right and observed that he had a very nice face structure. Sasuke thought to himself, I wish I could capture moments like this, or draw at all really. He sighed again, noticing that he'd been doing a lot of that recently, hopeful that Kiba hadn't noticed and would not ask what he was thinking about.

But there was no need, for another boy had walked up and sat on the other side of Kiba, the very same that had been in his art class; Naruto. Sasuke was confused about how he should feel, the boy had been nice and Sasuke knew he had over reacted slightly the other day. But whenever someone laughed and didn't explain why he assumed that they were making fun of him or hating him. He had never even given the guy a change to explain. Sasuke felt bad.  
>That day had been a bad one, he had to admit. He felt bad, but how could he talk to him again, assuming that the other would even want to, he probably thought Sasuke was a weird kid already. Sasuke put his arm on his knee and rested his head on it. Another thing he seemed to do a lot.<p>

Naruto had been late on account of a call from his mother that he had to take. He had been on his way to the gym with Kiba when he had gotten a message from his mom to take the call he was going to get from her, that's when he had disappeared into the men's restroom. His mother had explained that her and Minato were going off for a work trip in Europe and they were going to be gone about a month. According to Naruto that was really long trip, not that he really minded, they were always gone during this time of the month for such things, but usually it was only one of them.

He rushed back into the gym to find Kiba, his mother had said that they would leave in the morning so he had to come home for dinner. When he found Kiba he had barely noticed the other sitting to his right as he took a seat to his left.

"Hey, my mom called, her and dad are gonna be gone for a month, can I crash for the weekend?" Kiba looked over, Sasuke got a lovely view of messy brown hair as he listed to their conversation. He was a very poor eavesdropper.

"Yeah, any time, you're my best friend man. You can always stay the whole month you know." Naruto laughed, receiving some glares from the people sitting around them, Kiba laughed more quietly at this and they both turned to look at the speaker, who had now changed to the vice principle.  
>Sasuke leaned back against the wall, so that when he looked over at the left he could see Naruto behind Kiba's back. He had no real idea why he did it, other than the fact that it was something to do, and well, he wanted to. The speaker was droning on about some new funding the school had received and how it was going to be put to the Arts department, he heard the groans and some boos' from the jocks, inside his head Sasuke cheered, maybe this year he could go the art showcase at the state collage and get noticed by a sponsor.<p>

Suddenly his thought crashed and burned in his head as he thought, he sucked at art, what was he thinking. It was hopeless pipe dream. But he still had hope.

By this time the assembly was wrapping up and Naruto had already stood and tugged on Kiba's arm. They walked down the bleachers together, leaving Sasuke so get to class by himself. He had noticed that Gaara had left with Neji some time ago. Great friends, he thought as he walked down to the Art room, where Neji, Gaara, and Haku were bound to be, along with Naruto.

By the time he had made it though the mass of students blocking the way the bell had rung, the teacher didn't notice his late arrival as he made his way to the back of the room next to Gaara. The redhead looked up at his friend and smiled, Sasuke didn't return the smile but sat down and grabbed his drawing case. Gaara looked down, he felt bad for ditching his friend.

Naruto looked over at the table next to him, it was composed of freshmen and all of them seemed to wear black. He looked up to the front where the girls from the day before sat and hoped that today would go slightly better.

The teacher walked into the room and told all of the teens to hush and and proceeded to talk about a project they had to do and was due by next Monday. Naruto internally groaned. The teacher spoke again, "And I want there to be groups of three to work on this. I will pair you up with people I think you be good with each other. Alright, Gaara I want you with Haku and Ino. Sasuke, I want you with Neji and Naruto. Sakura I want you with Shino and Kankoro."

Sakura looked as of she was about to protest when the teacher sent her and look that shut her up, Sasuke snickered and looked over. Sadly he was with Neji, this was going to be hell. Neji sent him a wink as he moved over to Naruto's lone table and waited for Sasuke to join them, when he did he sat and looked at the two boys.

Naruto could piratically taste the tension between the two dark haired teens. He wondered what had happened between them. Shaking his head he addressed them,

"So my parents are out of town for a while, we can do it at my place after school. When is up to both of you."

Sasuke thought for a while, he couldn't just tell his dad he was going to be out for a project, he would never believe him, but there was the weekends that he could. He would have to ask his dad when he got home, maybe he would be sober enough to allow him to go.

Neji spoke first, "I can go whenever, it's up to Sasuke." Sasuke wanted to hit him right in the smug face, always being sly and smooth, ugh. Not that Neji had really done anything but he grated on Sasuke's nerves none the less.

"I can have weekends, I'm not sure about weekdays yet. I have to ask my dad, he might not let me." Naruto nodded in understanding, Neji smirked and leaned over to whisper something in Sasuke ear.

"Your dad still a drunk, Sasuke?" Sasuke glared at him and shoved him away. He wanted to do so much more than that, but he couldn't. And Neji knew as much.

Gaara sat across the room wanting to shoot the pink haired girl in her rather underdeveloped boobs. He knew that he had been rude to his best friend recently and he felt bad for it. There was no real reason for him not talking to Sasuke anymore, he just hadn't gotten to it or so he felt. He had no idea.

Naruto looked across the room at the other groups of people, almost laughing at Sasuke's red haired friend in visible agony at being near the girl that had been saying things about Sasuke a day prior. Naruto wondered what Sasuke had thought of it all, he had probably been deeply hurt at it. He itched to ask if the boy was alright. Kiba's words rang in his head, "Always have to be the knight in white armor to save the day.." ahhh, good old Kiba.

The class was almost over when Naruto offered to give Sasuke and Neji his number to keep in contact with them about times to do the project.

* * *

><p><em>Sorry about any mistakes.. It's very late here but I wanted to get this out to you. ^^<em>


	4. Chapter 4 (no title)

_Okay so, this is late. very late. I am sooo sorry, school had been kicking my as (namely algebra) and I've surprisingly fallen ill as of the day prior and ugh. But because i love you so much i rushed to get this to you, although it sucks and is very short. I will make it up to you later. _

* * *

><p>When the bell rang Sasuke bolted before anyone could catch him and made his way to his favorite spot to eat lunch on the overhang by the football field. He had his backpack in his hand and was almost running by the time he got there he collapsed on the ground and was breathing heavy. <em>I'm so out of shape<em>, he thought.

_Keep your head up  
>The colors are beautiful<br>When they say give up  
>Turn up your radio<br>All the sentimental memories you own  
>When they say grow up<br>It's just like a funeral_

Sasuke looked in his bag for some of the food he had brought for lunch and chose a bag of carrots and began to much on them as he logged onto his blogging site and scrolled though a few posts and smiled. Today was the beginning of a good day for a change. There were no new messages from anyone and that made him wonder, and he hadn't posted anything in the past hour or so..

_"Hello, I come to you today in tides of happiness. This is as happy as I remember being in a long time.. don't know how to describe how lovely it feels. I walked into school today thinking that it would be one of the bad ones and here I am, halfway through it feeling like I'm in a cloud. Not that my mood isn't subject to change, but right now I'm happy. I'm making progress. _

_-RavenTears"_

Sasuke posted it and went back to his lunch, half of the time had already been spent but he didn't care. When he stopped to really think why he was happy there was no reason. sasuke shrugged, it didn't matter anyways. When he was on his last carrot he looked up at the sky, it was darkening. The winter was coming, but they still got heavy summer rains. _Soon,_ he thought, _we'll be getting snow._

When the bell rang and signaled the end of lunch, Sasuke gathered up his bag and headphones and made his way back to the school. When he reached his classroom he sat his things down by his seat near the window and sat down in the seat. Propping his head on his hand he picked up a pen and began to doodle with it.

The bell rang not soon after and students began filing into the room, Neji among them. Sasuke scowled at the boy, there was nothing good about him.  
><em> It was stupid, Sasuke knew that, but Neji was nice, and attractive. Much to Sasuke's dismay, they hadn't talked much, but today, all of that was going to change. Sasuke had spent the night with Gaara prior and he had spilled his deepest secret, Neji was his biggest crush, only being in eighth grade and twelve it was a big deal, and even a bigger deal for him to come to terms with the fact he liked a boy. <em>

_ Having spent many hours online looking at things, reading up. Sasuke had come to terms of being attracted to the same gender. For some reason, the more he read about it the more it was glamorized and the more people "looked up to" those people, it was strange he supposed. He also strangely found it annoying. _

_ He sighed, the class was dragging on and Gaara was three rows away and his phone was sure to be taken away if he pulled it out. _

_ Last night he had gone to Gaara's house because of his dad, like always, had been very drunk and attempting to hit him in a rage. Sasuke had grabbed his backpack with spare clothes and fled through his window, and ran down the street to Gaara's. _

_ Gaara's house wasn't much, but it was more than Sasuke's home and there were always people to make him feel welcome. They had spent the night in Gaara's bed, they had been friends for years, and sharing a bed was nothing out of the ordinary. Even with Sasuke's new found knowledge, he didn't give it much thought, not that it would have mattered anyway. _

_ It was then, that Sasuke felt the need to tell Gaara about his recent discovery. He knew that Gaara wouldn't mind at all about it, but it still worried Sasuke to tell him, and if Sasuke couldn't tell his best - and only friend - about it then who would he ever?_

_ Sasuke opened his mouth to tell his friend, "Hey, Gaara, have you ever liked anyone?" Sasuke internally shook himself, he had wanted to come out and tell it like it was, but something stopped him and he asked the next best thing he could think of. Gaara looked over at his black haired friend who was now trying to discreetly hide his face, and shook his head,_

_ "No, not that I remember." Sasuke let out a breath, _

_ "Well, I do. And, you see, uh, well its a guy." Gaara rolled over to face Sasuke and nodded his head, nudging the boy to continue. Sasuke took this as a sign that Gaara accepted his feelings and gave a small grateful smile. _

_ "Well he looked kinda like my older brother, although that's kind of weird and now that I think about it, some what gross too, anyways, it's Neji." he finished by drawing in a large breath, having said it all in one breath. Gaara looked stunned, but slowly he began to smile and gave Sasuke an one-arm hug and simply said, "Well you might have some trouble getting around some of the girls throwing themselves at him all the time, but I can't see why he wouldn't like you." at that Sasuke smiled. Although what there was to like about him was still a mystery. _

_ Now, it was the next day and Sasuke had decided that he was going to talk to Neji, nothing would or could happen if they hadn't had one decent conversation together. At the thought his hands began to sweat and he bit on his lip as a habit of worry. He was currently sitting in front of the school on the steps to the main doors waiting to see Neji walk in. He had planned out the whole conversation in his head, but he knew the likelihood of it going his way was almost none. _

_ The moment Neji stepped out of his father's sleek black car Sasuke's heart sped up with adrenalin and a large wave of panic spread though him. Now was his chance, he had to take it now or never. He shakily stood up and moved to grab his bag that he set beside him, when he looked up Neji was already in the school building. Sasuke sighed, there would be other chances. _

The other chance came and went with the weeks that went by and then the months. Happy months, Sasuke recalled. With his head still on his hand the teacher soon walked in after all of the students had found their seats and began by sending them to the changing rooms. Sasuke sighed yet again, he hated P.E. He hated the idea of changing in front of others, having them see his body and all of its imperfections.

He also did not like seeing the other boys bodies as well, it made for some trouble in his mind, always wanting to look like one of them, with their toned bodies and smooth flat chests, not that Sasuke was fat. In fact, quite the opposite, his could see and feel his ribs on his chest and his hip bones stood out from his flt of his lower abdomen. The strange part, to him, was that he still felt fat.

He fallowed the flow of students to the changing rooms and found his locker, it was near the back of the room. Most of the more "popular" students preferred the front, so they could be the first out to the track for laps. Fortunately for Sasuke, Gaara and Haku had the lockers to the sides of him.

Even after the stunt Gaara pulled earlier Sasuke was happy to have him in the same class so he did not feel so alone. Twisting the lock to remove his uniform he looked to his left, Neji was by the sinks washing his hands, he could see Sasuke in the mirror from the angle. Sasuke needed to change and be out in three minutes or else he would have to run extra laps, but he refused to change in front of Neji.

Not knowing what was going on Haku moved in front of Sasuke to grab his shirt and thew it over his head, blocking Sasuke from view Sasuke took the opportunity to practically rip his current band shirt off and replace it with the school provided one in a heartbeat, the fastest he had ever done it in his life.

Once he was properly dressed he headed out if the changing rooms alone to begin his laps outside, the air was cooler now and damp, Sasuke wondered why it had been so muggy, shrugging it off he began to jog down to the track.

* * *

><p>Naruto looked at the clock, lunch had been fine. He was sitting with Kiba and some of his friends, they were cool people he supposed. He had met a boy named Kankoro, apparently the red headed boy in his art class was his brother, the resemblance was not there, he noted. Kankoro laughed at him and said it was a pretty common mistake, Naruto also leaned that they had a sister that was a junior, the oldest of the bunch. He smiled, laughing at one of Kiba's lame jokes.<br>As he sat in photography he thought of all the other things he could be doing, most of which involved a car and loud music, driving away from the school. For some strange reason he felt mad, or at lease anxious to not be at the school, although he was happy.

It was odd, he thought, most of the time he wanted to be around his friends and he enjoyed learning in the school, but he felt odd. Maybe he was getting sick. Or it was in the muggy cold weather that had appeared out of the blue, or gray in this case.

* * *

><p>Sasuke faltered to a stop and put his hands on his knees, breathing heavy. He was not in good shape, and Neji had been a jerk to him, trying to race him, Sasuke won, but he was paying for it. He had a feeling that was what Neji was going for, not the win. He scowled,<em> fucking ass<em>. He thought with venom, wishing in the back of his head that Neji could feel the contempt rolling off him large waves.

Sasuke looked back up at the school wishing that the class was over already, although the laps had just finished, he wanted his phone. It was strange, Haku always said he was "addicted" to his phone, never going a hour without it. He sighed and moved to join him on the fold where they were gathering around the teacher for instructions.

* * *

><p>Naruto looked down to his lap where he hid his phone, not that it was convincing in the least, he scrolled up and refreshed the blog. No new posts. He sighed, why he cared about it was still a mystery. There was nothing else to do, he looked out the window on the other side of the classroom, being on the lowest floor of the school he could see the field clearly and all the freshman running around on it.<p>

The bell rung and signaled the end of the day, Naruto whooped in his head, finally! He grabbed his shoulder bag as fast as he could and ran to his beaten down car. Kiba had told him that he would be spending the day with some other friends, not that Naruto minded, he wanted to be alone.

Not that he was sad, more like he wanted to think and be himself with no one to watch. He pulled the rusty door open and jumped in, throwing the pack in the seat next to him. A head of black hair ran last his car, Naruto squinted, he looked to be a freshman. In a hurry. He shrugged, not his business.  
>Driving past the younger teen on his way him he let his eyes fallow him for a bit before looking back to the road. Once he made it home he was greeted by his mother, her and Minato would be leaving early the next morning, then he would have the house all to himself for a month. Yay.<p>

He greeted her with a hug and his dad with a clasp of the shoulder, the family was more touchy when they were about to leave. Naruto walked up the stairs to his room and tossed himself in the bed face first, groaning. The day had practically sapped all of his energy.

Sasuke could hear the TV blasting from the porch, he hung his head and balled his fists. He had to go in, there was no more prolonging it, he lived here. It was his home, Sasuke scoffed. Whatever that meant. He gathered his anger and channeled it into pushing the handle down and pushing the door in.

His father didn't look up as he walked to the back of the trailer and sat on the edge of his bed. He pulled his phone out and unlocked it, no new messages. He set it next to him after turning on the ringer and pulled his homework out of the bag and began to finish it.

Sometime after his mother called him down to dinner he managed to dislodge himself from the bed and make his way back to the kitchen. He his dad laughed and messed with his hair as he took his seat, he pouted, "I'm not eight you know."

"I know," Naruto's look softened at the words, his family was so mushy sometimes! Dinner went by relatively fast, Naruto was full, and gladly went to join his family in the living room to watch an episode of whatever was on, smiling he went to bed after his parents. When he deemed it late enough to go to bed he made his way up the stairs to his room at the end of the hall.

Sighing he picked up his phone and began to write a message to Kiba explaining that he would have the weekend to himself and probably come to his house later in the week. His phone buzzed, it was an unknown number it read: _hey, it's Sasuke. Mind if we do the project after school tomorrow? I know it's a weekend and all and if you're busy then I understand you can get back to me later. Thanks._ Slightly more than he would have ever expected the boy to say, he chucked.  
>In reply he with back: <em>sure, that's fine. Is Neji coming?<em> For some strange reason Naruto found it rude that he had inquired about the other boy, oh well. Naruto waited for a reply most of the night, eventually expecting that Sasuke had went to bed or something he gave in to sleep, but not before charging his phone and turning off his light.

* * *

><p>Sasuke woke up the next morning feeling strange, he was not sad, but he felt muted or numb. With a strange energy singing in his veins. Pulling his shirt down he made his way to the bathroom across the hall to prepare himself for the day. He showered and brushed his teeth, leaving his hair it dry on it's own, not feeling like he wanted to spend the time to mess with it on an already windy day.<p>

When he was done and waiting for the time to head out he made to the kitchen to grab something to pack for lunch. As he made his way into the kitchen he herd a noise from the living room, he froze and waited to hear more, there was a loud snore. He breathed out a sigh of relief and continued his search for food.  
>Sadly there wasn't much, he did the shopping, but his dad had yet to send him out and feared that he would have to ask soon and risk his anger. <em>Whatever, I'm not gonna starve<em>. He thought while grabbing the last pack of pop tarts.

* * *

><p>Naruto woke the next morning with a grim face, he hadn't slept well and knew that his parents were already gone. Yes, he was old enough that he shouldn't feel abandoned and so clingy, but he was a really emotional person. Someone who latched on to someone else and let that relationship with that person become a new life line and little could do more damage then that being broken.<p>

But his parents were only gone for a trip, and possibly some time alone together. He pulled his sore body from his bed, he had tossed and turned all night and had finally passed out in a weird position, which resulted in a sore neck and shoulder.

The shower was fast and dressing even faster, he sprayed himself with cologne and tied his shoes before running out the door to his car. Naruto wanted to be at school early for some reason, not feeling very social at the moment.

* * *

><p>Sasuke's walk to the school had been hurried, he shuddered with the cold and was dreading the time when he had it make the trek in the snow. There were a few kids gathered at the school, since it didn't start for another half hour, Sasuke always tried to make it to school early so he had time to sit alone in a classroom and do what he pleased. Be out of the house as long as he could manage.<p>

* * *

><p>Naruto shivered as he opened up his car door, a gust if wind had swept by unexpectedly. Today was most defiantly not shaping up to be the best. He made his way though the school to his first class, he had a free period.<p>

_All the cards you've organized  
>Shuffled twice in front of my eyes<br>Everybody has  
>Needs, wants, a cold gun!<em>

_Lights low_  
><em>Go on baby go<em>  
><em>It's a bad time<em>  
><em>I'm on a tight rope!<em>

_Don't go-o!_  
><em>It's about time, It's about...PISTOLS<em>

Sasuke sighed, the weather had gotten worse as he could see though the window to his left, and he had yet to hear from his friend. Pulling his phone out, again, there was still no new texts. Had he done something? Was Gaara mad at him? He put his phone away and looked back out the window, a lovely view of the overhang of the lunch park greeted him.

The sky was darkening outside and the day had barely begun, it felt like it was almost dusk. Not the morning, and it only made him feel even more tired.

* * *

><p>Naruto sat in the library, seeking out some peace and quiet, he wished he had something to do, but the only project was the one from art with the two freshman. He stood from his chair and decided that he would look for a book to read to pass time.<p>

No one really read anymore, Naruto noticed, there were better things to do than appreciate a good classic. Sadly, since the year had started he found himself buried in either his school work or social life and had not found time to do much for himself, he quite liked reading.

He scanned the shelves a little longer before settling on a random book that had a picture of a Ninja on the cover and began to read. Not noticing a group of girls in the corner of the room watching him, a girl with pink hair nodded to something her friend had told her and blushed while looking at her feet.

* * *

><p>The bell rung, Sasuke picked his head up and looked to the doors and watched as Sakura and Ino took their seats in front of the classroom, he felt insecure and angry at them. What they had said in art still engraved in his head, he'd been stupid. It was obvious.<p>

The teacher didn't come into class for sometime, once she did he focused on the board, ears open to hear the small snippets of conversation around him for anything more interesting than the topic of the class, sightly hoping that he would not hear anything more about him pass the lips of Sakura.

Philosophy was interesting, sure, Sasuke had to agree, but at the same time it had the ability to lose him at the same time. Sighing he looked to the front of the class as a new phrase was brought up on the board for discussion.

Sasuke had a knack for thinking about things too hard sometimes and stressing himself out, he was sure that most others his age did the same, but he couldn't stop, even when he told himself there wasn't anything good going to come of it.

_ What was he going to do after high school? What was going to happen next? _He liked art, music, and philosophy, but what kind of career could he get with that? Sighing, something he'd noticed he'd been doing a lot of recently, and looked back to the board.

* * *

><p><em>Okay, you can say it; my story realllly sucks. I am one hell of a shity writer, but whatever. anyways, I might have messed with the timeline, currently I'm too sleepy to read over it and look, so let me know if I did. and I'll provably be adding a Pov (always third person) for Kiba and Sakura, maybe Neji, I'm not sure, but I know it could be better that way. anyways I'll shut up now, I hope you like it and I'll be back soon!<em>


	5. Chapter 5 - Men without hats

Okay, I am a shitty person for not updating this in forever.. I got your review Neko-NightLightLover and I'm so glad you like it and sorry again! I hope the chapters will be coming more now that I have had some time to write and I hurried to get this to you I hope you like it! Also I have my timeline all messed up so if I repeated a day or something does not make sense please tell me. anyways! On to the story

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><p>Sakura was mad, something she thought she rarely was, and if so, it was for good reason. The morning had not stared well for her, and her mother had only made it worse, plus there was annoying Ino to push stupid gossip down her throat all day long. She only wanted to get home and put her head under her pillow for eternity.<p>

Class was almost over and she could make a run for it, maybe ride the bus if it was still rainy outside. _I'm such a horrible person. _She wailed inside her head, wishing she could tug on her hair, but she was in class and Ino was sitting next to her.

Ino, they had been friends for years, since the end of fourth grade, if Sakura remembered correctly. Temari used to bully Ino over everything, Sakura noticed and she thought it had been wrong so she stood up for the girl and from then on they had been inseparable. She was the knight in shining armor for Ino, or at least she thought she was.

Sometimes Sakura thought that it might have been a mistake, maybe she would feel better without her... She didn't know. Sakura wanted to think that she was a good person, someone who could play the hero; the attractive female lead saving people and falling in love. What girl didn't?

_But I'm not a good person._ She thought again, knowing that it was ages ago in her world, but what she had said about Sasuke still repeated in her head. It was wrong, he was nice and quite.. But she didn't have to say that, did she? He would never like her. She didn't have to be nice to him... but she should.

Ino was always the better one, always had longer hair, always got the boys that Sakura liked, not that the ever told Ino, she would have gone after them more intensely then. But she would never tell Ino about Sasuke.

_Sakura met him last summer, he was stilling on a swing at the park alone and had a phone in his hands as well as headphones in his ears. His fingers on his knees drumming along to the beat while the wind whipped though his hair.__  
><em>

_She had to stop and look at the boy, he looked older than her by a few years, she could guess that he would be a sophomore or something. She blushed, upperclassmen were always more attractive for some reason. Ino was going to flip.__  
><em>

_Sakura smirked, what is he looked up and saw her, what if he came over and asked her for her number, what if she liked her after the first glance, like her? What if... She shook her head, that kind of thinking was ridiculous. But if only he would only look up..__  
><em>

_She walked over toward him and sat down on a bench closest to him, pulling out her phone to look like she was busy. It was the perfect setup, now all she had to do was get his attention. Easier said then done. What would she do?__  
><em>

_A few minutes passed, he didn't look up. Not even once. Sakura was getting annoyed, there was nothing wrong with her, why wasn't he looking? She had put her phone away a while ago and was now starting blatantly, expecting him to notice her in all her glory.__  
><em>

_A tall slim teen walked up behind the boy on the swing, he had a pale complexion and long black hair that was tied in a lose hold near the nape of his neck. Sakura couldn't believe her eyes, together they were easily the most attractive beings she'd ever seen. And they'd probably be going to her school when it started, well maybe. Transfer students, she almost giggled. It was all so perfect! __  
><em>

_Then something happened that she did not expect. The taller boy, with the long hair took his slender arms and wrapped them around the boy sitting on the swing. Sakura didn't know what to make of that as she watched the latter raise his head for the first time showing her his face.__  
><em>

_If there were words to describe how attractive he was in that moment in her eyes, it would have made a cannibal cry tears of joy. Or so she thought. The two teens across from her met lips and the boy on the swing leaned into the taller as it became more personal. More intimate. __  
><em>

_Sakura felt like she was witnessing something too personal, she grabbed her things and walked away as fast as she could manage in her not-so-fit-for-bad-weather shoes, clicking on the sidewalk. __  
><em>

_She didn't know how to feel when she went home that night, so he was gay. She pouted, Ino always said that the hottest guys were taken, too old, or gay. Only now was Sakura starting to see the truth in the words. She sighed as she messed with some frayed strings on her bead cover._

Sakura came back to the real world, the bell had rung and it was time to leave the school, the day was over and she couldn't wait to go home. Having a crush on someone you had so little of a chance with was exhausting, and even more so when your best friend didn't know about it.

As she made her way though the throngs of students hurrying to get to their homes she pushed her way out, catching a head of dark hair walking next to her. Her head spun and she felt blood rise to her face.

Sasuke was mad. Very mad. Now was not the time for Gaara to get all pissy at him over nothing. So what if Neji was his ex? It's not like anything had really happened anyways, besides he was just being used for a joke, _but what did I expect?_ He didn't know. His anger fueling him though the chilly wind whipping at his face.

Not planing to go home at that moment he made his way to the park. He sat on a swing that was closest to a park bench and pulled out his iPod. He blasted some loud heavy music and it helped drown the world out, meanwhile bringing back the day.

_Gaara had spent the pointy ignoring him, finally getting enough he made his way across the hall to his friends locker going to confront him about it. Friends don't treat friends like that, unless they had a very good reason to. And Gaara better have a good goddamn reason..._ _He thought with venom._

_ As Sasuke neared the table he lost his nerve, he walked past the table of Gaara, Neji, and some other upperclassmen. Some of them looked up and nudged one another to get Gaara's attention. He didn't look up. Not that Sasuke expected him to._

_ Why? Why did this have to happen today? He hadn't done anything had he? Did he say something to Gaara yesterday? He shook his head and walked further into the park, there was a small forest-like grove where aspens were beginning to turn and the paths had been taken over by the few leaves and some discarded trash wrappers. _

_ Sasuke took a deep breath through his nose and walked on the main path until he came to s rather small bridge one could barely crawl under over an average sized brook. It looked like something he'd seen on a travel site, it was really very beautiful. _

_ Softly laughing to himself he took his phone out and took a few good pictures and walked to the middle of the bridge. He kicked some loose pebbles off the edge just to see them fall and plop into the river and drift to the bottom or be carried away with the current._

_Will you stand above me?_

_Look my way, never love me,_

_Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling, _

_Down, down, down,_

_ The wind became more harsh and the temperature was beginning to drop drastically and Sasuke gave a slight shiver, having been caught up in the moment he hadn't noticed the time. Making his way home he thought about what life would be like if he had both of his parents and they somehow, never in this world, loved each other and him in turn. What would change? What would stay the same? Would he be happy then? Would things change? _

_ He didn't know and moping over what you didn't have was never going to get you wanted. Itachi had told him that once. Sasuke knew it was important but he had always been true to his desires and hopes. He had many. _

Sasuke currently lie on his bed with his hands behind his head while he listed to the loud TV on in the living room where his dad was predictably sprawled out on the couch with a beer on his lap. He didn't really care as long as the man himself was quiet, he could always pretend that he wasn't even there. It always made him feel slightly safer.

Speaking of which, Sasuke hadn't had a had laid on him in about a week now, it was almost a record. Unfortunately his father had probably noticed and would come down soon enough. It was good for the time being though.

The clock on his bedside table struck 2:45am, Sasuke thought he should be going to bed soon, he would be rather tired in the morning and would dearly regret it. But sleep was not to be found for some time. When it was Sasuke lie on his back with the covers half off the bed and his hands on his abdomen.

_What were mornings? _Naruto wondered as he made his way to the bathroom, loud music blaring out of his room. Parents gone for an entire month? He still didn't know how to feel about it but he could play his music how he wanted to now so that had to count for something.

He knew he had asked if he could spend the weakened at Kiba's, but he wasn't sure. He had to finish the project for art with Sasuke and Neji, what was his name right? He was enjoying his time spent alone so far.

It was a strange sensation Naruto thought, he was never one for being alone but he found that the space was clear in front of his was oddly comforting to him and he had time to think. Although that was never good, Naruto and thinking. _God knows what would happen there? _He laughed at himself while wiping off the excess toothpaste. And grinning in the mirror.

Sasuke groaned as he rolled onto the floor from his bed in a mess of tangled sheets. Fuck knows that it was hardly the first time but it never got any better. Sleep was such a nice release from the world and sometimes he wished it would never end. But strangely enough the world still held its appeal, hence the waking every morning.

The walk from the bedroom to the bathroom was sloe and sluggish, when the arrived at the bathroom the door was locked and he wanted to bang on it and demand whomever was inside leave so he could get ready because school didn't wait for him. But knowing how well that would go over with his father he decided to go back to his room and pull out some clothes.

On his way to the dresser he passed his full length mirror and looked at himself sideways. Knowing that he had been eating practically nothing but the bare minimum for days and only vegetables at that. He saw no difference in how he looked. He sighed. Its not that he was 'fat' but he was still averagely large to anyone his age. It was so stupid, every other boy he knew could eat a pizza every day and there would be no change. But Sasuke only seemed to stay the same or get bigger. Granted this was as small as he had been since maybe fifth grade it didn't make him feel any better.

He grabbed a shirt from the clean pile he had made for himself on the base of his bed, being too lazy to really put them away. He pulled a pair of random pants from the pile as well. His father should be well done by now.

"Shit!" Naruto exclaimed as his burnt his hand for the third time on the toaster attempting to heat up a bagel with loads of cream cheese. He put the abused finger in his mouth and held the plate with the sloppily made sandwich to the table in the adjacent room and began to eat it noticing that he was nearing the time to leave his house.

"Shit." Sasuke commented as he looked himself in the eye as he attempted to make his hair stand up in the back and failing yet again. He gave up, throwing his hands up in the air for dramatic emphasis even though there was no one to see him.

He grabbed up his bag and moved to the door, looking over his shoulder to make sure there was nothing he was forgetting. His phone had charged and was in his hand as well as his iPod and headphones. He nodded to himself, nothing missing.

Once in the kitchen he tiptoed around to the fridge to grab himself what was left of the 'healthy food' and snatched up a vegetable plate and stuffed it into his bag and closed the front door behind him.

Walking to school was fine, he decided. It was the normal routine so there was nothing new about it ever. But today seemed to hold so adventure to it. As cliche as that sounded inside his head. When he made it to the school parking lot he made an effort to avoid driving peers, they really shouldn't be allowed to drive.

There was about twenty minutes until school would start and he had some time to kill. Usually he would go to his spot on the side of the school and wait for Gaara but for some reason he felt like Gaara should have to seek him out if he really wanted to see him.

On the other side of that, if Gaara didn't really care enough to find Sasuke on his own time that would mean that they would never make up and Sasuke would really be alone.. He sighed. He was always alone. But alone with Gaara. It had been that way since his mother left and there was a kid that seemed to get it sitting in the back of the classroom named Gaara.

Their friendship could be called odd Sasuke mused, but it was the only thing he'd had to cling to, to rely on for so long and this was the first time Gaara had be rude to him like that. Lashing out was something that he did often, yes. But Sasuke was always the one he held and told stories to when his dad was on a rampage, he was always there to make things seem less dark and painful for him. And now he seemed to have had enough.

The possibility had been floating around in Sasuke's head that Gaara had been using him. But he ruled it out, it had been so long to keep an at up as one, Neji was a different case on that part, and Gaara hated games. The other reason was that Sasuke has nothing that Gaara could use him for. No money, no reputation, nothing useful to someone like Gaara.

So it stood to reason, to Sasuke, that he had done something to make Gaara mad at him. It was still the only question what.

Naruto walked down the hall humming to himself, he found his locker and twisted in the combo. Sometime between stuffing his backpack in the small space and pulling out his textbooks Kiba came gallivanting over with a tall somewhat toned individual with light white/silver hair.

"Naruto, Sugetsu. Got it? Good. Now I got to talk to you about about a party at your place man, it would be perfect." Naruto wanted to hit his best friend over the head with his book.

"There will be no parties in my house. Do you even know how much shit my mom put me though last time I got caught?" Kiba dubbed over laughing, "Don't do that man, you're killing me. I do remember, but don't get caught this time!"

"No and that's final." he gave his best glare that the thought he could muster at the pout Kiba was attempting to pull off. Sugetsu was standing by Kiba's side looking like he would explode for either the strange tension between the two or the will to suppress his laughter at the boys antics.

Sasuke sat down at his desk in Philosophy and pulled out a notebook where he kept his spare doodles and miscellaneous things. Also pulling out a pen, he was clean out of pencils it seemed.

Sometime later Gaara and Haku meandered in together and took seats near the front, pointedly ignoring Sasuke. He sighed, he wanted to cry. It wasn't fair. He hadn't done anything, had he? Sasuke decided that he should go up to them and ask what was going on.. but he didn't want to be even more humiliated or worse come to learn that he wasn't wanted if there was nothing he could fix.

Outside he could see Neji leading the boys soccer team in some practice play in P.E, Neji hadn't been a part of Sasuke's life since he realized that they had to work together on the art project, - which still had yet to be done – and he hadn't had to be remembered how it still hurt sometimes.

Knowing that someone seemed to care about you when you were considerably see through and broken was a wonderful thing. It was also strange, knowing that some people could be cruel and harsh to people they deemed 'lesser' than themselves Sasuke was never a trusting individual, but somehow Neji had gotten in. and he had shattered everything.

Maybe shattering was an over dramatic way of putting it, and he was only just going into high school, not an age most adults would consider a clear minded point in life. Some even treated him like his emotions weren't real, as if! Just because he was 'young' didn't mean he couldn't feel like someone in their thirties about someone. Or, at least that's Sasuke saw it.

By now his sketch book was long forgotten as he watched the figures on the field move around like rats in a cage, _that's all we are anyway. It doesn't matter where you stand, you're never the one in control. _

Sasuke had always had the feeling that he was never going to measure up to what was expected of him or even what he wanted. There was always someone better, his mother always used to tell him that the world would give him a chance when the time was right, so far, nothing. He'd come to realize that there would never be a chance for him, he had to make it or it would never come by doing nothing.

Everything in life was earned by working for it, and if not then you were weak and worthless. Maybe that didn't apply to everyone but Sasuke would never put it past anyone. He _wanted _to be smart, to be attractive, to be interesting. Important. Thought about. He wanted everything he never had, and there was no reason that e shouldn't have it as long as it was earned and deserved. _But I've suffered so much already, why do I have to work more than anyone else in this room for what I want? They didn't have to do anything. _

It was simple, he guessed, that not everyone else had it as easy as he thought they did, but he still felt scornful towards them in the end. It wouldn't change how he felt or what he thought, or even what he would do – whatever that may be - he would still work with a strong determination for what he wanted.

Naruto sat in the uncomfortable chairs that the school provided waiting for the teacher to come in and the bell to ring sometime soon. He was feeling strange, even for his standards. Like he didn't want to do anything, he would give anything to fake a pass and go home but he didn't want to go home. It was weird, not feeling like there was something to do, something needed to get done. He felt like he was running on autopilot. He could still laugh, this morning had proven that. But he just wanted to cease to exist for a while.

It wasn't like he was sad or depressed, he could call it, but more like blank. Like the page in front of him at the moment; he could make anything out of it, anything he wished. But he just left it blank because he lacked the effort to try.

Naruto felt heavy, like was walking, or sitting at the moment, in a vat of molasses and his brain seemed to only be able to focus on one thing at a time and a light white fog covered everything else on the edges.

It concerned him yes, but he was too lazy to do something about it. Besides, it would go away soon enough.

The bell rang.

Sasuke wanted to pull a Bluler and leave for the day. He wouldn't be going home but he could take his stash of collected bills in his backpack and take the bus to city for the day. There wasn't much he could do there, at least not with the small amount that could probably only take him there and back.

No, he wasn't going to ditch school. He had a perfect record so far and he wasn't about to put it in the ground just yet. The teacher wrote out some dates and lines on the board and he copied them done and looked back out the window at Neji and his team. _I wish I could hit him or something. _Sasuke frowned.

Maybe lunch would help him feel better, some time to be alone with his thought, well more alone than he was at the moment. His fingers drummed a beat on the desk as the teacher said a few more words before giving them a project; "_relate the situations they talked about to something that has or could happen to you in your life," _

It wasn't hard but it was somewhat hard to think and write different things at the same time.

Naruto yawned for what seemed the millionth time since stepping foot in the Photography room this year, and wasn't even then end of the first quarter. He was behind in two projects already, "leaves" and "temptation" he'd named them. He had to put together a collection of images that fit a few guidelines and such for a formal documentary.

Technically the projects were not late yet, they were due the day after Christmas break but the teacher had made it very clear that they should have had them close to done by now. Naruto knew that most of the class had only taken the class to have time to talk and do nothing for a house and a half. He like the subject and he also wasn't embarrassed to admit the former helped him decide too.

_It's not as if there was anyone who cares about that kind of thing anyways, and I don't wake up everyday to please anyone but myself. _He nodded, it was true. No one should be as important to him but him if he was ever going to be happy after high school.

High school was always supposed to be stupid, no one took it serious until it told them they had fucked up somewhere along the way. Naruto had managed to avoid that clearly enough so far and liked to stay that way. But there was always the miniscule chance that he could be bumped off course by something if it was interesting enough and he though of himself as a fairly rational person when it came to big choices.

For some time nearing the end of class he mused to himself what it would be like to have someone to hold or something along the lines of stupid hormonal teenage boys whims.

Sasuke grunted, he had lied his head down on the table after he finished his papers and had be dozing lightly before he felt like someone was watching him. A wave of insecurities smashed into him _what? It's not like there's someone in class that's bee watching you sleep. _Scoffing to himself he looked back out the window.

Outside the world looked kindly, warm enough to enjoy the last lingering moments of warm before the cold icy blasts of winter along with the dreaded white flurry's. The P.E class had taken themselves to the showers and disappeared from view.

Sasuke wished he was someone else, someone who lad an important life, in the middle of a battle. Someone whom people loved and cared about, someone they fought for. Somewhere it was exiting, new, and fresh. Where there were still places left to be explored and noted on a map. New things where he had to find them himself because he was important enough.

Sometimes he pondered the thought of life, it sounded so stupid of him sometimes, outside of his head. But what was there? Really. He would go to school until he was deemed ready and then he would move on and get himself a job, something he liked and the people around him wouldn't know him or his parents background.

Sasuke knew that he wanted to move far away, maybe somewhere like New York, there were plenty of people there to get lost in and he could disappear for lengths of time. But what kind of life was that? He would grow old and die with or without someone by his side, that part didn't seem all that important to him at the moment.

He was born to die, everyone was. That's all the race, or anything even, knew. And it was so very short, although his brother had pointed out once, it would be the longest thing any of them would ever experience.

Naruto was wracking his brain for something to take pictures of for his photography class when he remembered walking down a path in the park once. It had been summer then of course, but that hardly mattered now. He had also been holding hands with Hinata as she snuggled into him even if it was rather hot outside. He hadn't minded.

But the thing about the memory that caught his attention were the trees. Trees had leaves. Leaves was the project. He wanted to slap himself, it was so simple. Find a different leaf each time or a different meaning but it didn't matter. What mattered was that he had made progress, and he marked it so on a piece of paper inside his folder reminding him that he needed to go to the park later.

On the thought of Hinata brought up plenty of other feelings with it. He didn't miss her, not really. But she had been nice to him when he felt like he was going to fall apart and her had listened to him talk no matter how strange or stupid he thought the thoughts were. And that had mattered to him.

He could have told Kiba, and he would have cared just as much if not more about it but Naruto felt like it was something only someone he had let in further could see about him. Kiba was his best friend, sometimes his only friend. But he deserved to be happy and not weighted down by his friends babbling about stupid things all the time.

Maybe that's why he had been more distant to him lately, trying to avoid what he knew was coming. He felt like he was going to explode if he didn't tell someone how he felt. Once Naruto had brought it up with his mother, that he wanted someone to talk to. She had sat down next tom him and said that he could tell her anything and she'd be there for him.

As kind and loving Kushina was he just didn't want to, like he wanted to be alone to let ot off his chest and she also wouldn't understand. At least that's what Naruto thought. He had asked to see someone, not as if he was weird or had any problems, but he wanted someone to rant to. Kushina had shook her head like it was a stupid joke, she had smiled and said that her and his father would always be there for him and he would be fine. He was just under stress.

That's when Hinata had come into the picture, Naruto had known about her crush on him for some time really. He didn't really feel anything for her, but she was kind and he seemed to make her happy and he liked seeing her happy. Naruto had very few experiences like that in his life, in face he could easily say that she was his first girlfriend and kiss.

But that didn't change anything. He didn't know how he was supposed to feel so he thought that he had liked her quite a bit, but he never got into it too much. He was happy that he made her happy and that the people around him seemed happy too. He was caught up in the glow of everything. And it was fine, nothing was wrong.

But that's where it seemed to fizzle out. It always did, at least from what his father said to him the day he came home and his smile was slightly more forced than it had been in some time. His father had also said that he had to find that one that never fizzled out, then he would know it was right.

Most adults would say that it never happened in high school, but that was probably only due to the limited amount of people one could be around for four years. Naruto had nodded and felt better as the days went on. When Hinata had told him she didn't like him like that anymore and just wanted to his friend, he had taken it more personal than it may have been intended.

He was more ashamed that she left him and that he was left in the dirt, maybe the break up had been more of a crack in his ego or pride. He knew it was the wrong reason to be upset about it, but he never lied to himself if he could help it.

Hinata moved to the city then with her family, Naruto knew that her cousin was left in her place for some odd family reason and that was all. He still called her sometimes to hear her laugh and get caught up in what she was missing back here. She missed it he heard once, but it was only once and it didn't matter.

He didn't miss her really, more of the thought of her. What they could have been, but it wasn't really _her _he was missing. He knew that much.

The bell rung. Something that Sasuke seemed to notice more and more. _Strange,_ he thought.

It was time to take the long ass trek to the Art wing of the school and up the stairs. It seemed that the school had a sense of humor after all, if the Art kids didn't take P.E then they had to get in any activity they could on the way to classes instead. Funny.

He passed Gaara and Neji, who were really close and talking in hushed voices, he thought it was weird, maybe they had a thing for each other. Sasuke didn't care anyways, Gaara was still ignoring him and he would gladly do the same, well until he caved. But that was father off still. He also passed Naruto and his friend who's name escaped him.

Sasuke slowed down then, to walk next to someone he knew and didn't hate him at the moment, Naruto. The guy had honestly seemed rather nice when they had talked, and it was always a good idea to have surface to talk to, right?

Naruto noticed the freshman walking next to him sometime after they came to the landing near the art room they used for second period. He didn't mind, but silently wondered why he chose to walk by him or if it was coincidence.

Sasuke sat at the table had at the end of class with Naruto yesterday, today Neji sat with Gaara and Haku in the back. He huffed under hid breath, this had to end soon. He missed his friend. Today the girls that ad been rude to him, possibly unintentionally, sat where they always did and Naruto joined him. Kiba had broken off somewhere during the walk since he didn't have art with him as far as Sasuke knew.

Naruto smiled at Sasuke in a friendly way before leaning over to grab his books and his pencils, they had also not made any progress and it was also due before break. And then the new quarter would begin. Sasuke had already pulled his books out and was now absentmindedly staring at the board as if he could see something being written there.

Naruto looked down at the kid, not that he was much taller or that he though of him as a lesser person he just did but he was convinced that it wasn't in a bad way. He also noted his shirt,

"I like your shirt, _The child's eyes uttered joy and stilled my heart with sadness for the way we are. _I think I like it the most." Sasuke sat with his eyes wide. Okay, it wasn't so weird that someone else liked The Cure, it wasn't really. But he doubted it would be Naruto of all people. He was glad actually.

"I've never met anyone who liked them let alone know who they were," he smiled a bit and looked back, "I like that song too, it makes me think about all the shallow people around me. But I guess that's a harsh way of putting it." he shrugged like it didn't matter to him all that much. It didn't.

Naruto laughed, making a few people look over, Sasuke flinched as they looked at him but he looked away from them and locked back onto Naruto's face. "So, do you like any other bands from that time or?" Sasuke was exited to be talking to someone other than people online and Gaara, both reminded him that he hadn't been on his blog in a while but it could wait.

Naruto nodded, he rattled off some bands that Sasuke had heard of and some he liked, other he hadn't. Sasuke did relatively the same in turn. He was overjoyed and was smiling more than he thought he was comfortable with. He pulled out his iPod and headphones, he looked over at Naruto, suddenly not sure of himself but pushed it aside as he offered the other boy one.

"Here, you might like it. I do but I just found it, like last night." he chuckled, breath ghosting over the table in front of him and Naruto noted that he smelled like mint. _Gum probably, why does that matter to you? _Scolding himself he put the headphone to his ear and listened as the music flooded into him, he smiled.

_Say, we can act if we want to  
>If we don't, nobody will<br>And you can act real rude and totally removed  
>And I can act like an imbecile<em>

_And say, we can dance, we can dance_  
><em>Everything's out of control<em>  
><em>We can dance, we can dance<em>  
><em>They're doing it from pole to pole<em>  
><em>We can dance, we can dance<em>  
><em>Everybody look at your hands<em>  
><em>We can dance, we can dance<em>  
><em>Everybody's taking the chance<em>  
><em>Safety dance<em>  
><em>Oh well, the safety dance<em>  
><em>Ah yes, the safety dance<em>

"I like it," and nodded. It was a good song and Naruto wrote it down on the back of his hand for later when he got home. Sasuke smiled and took his headphones back and looked up, the teacher was late again, not that he cared, the longer he could stay away from Neji the better.

He looked back that way towards them and scowled as if they could somehow feel the anger and jealousy he felt rolling on the floor as mist. Sasuke almost laughed at the idea, Naruto caught the look the other teen sent to his friends he had seen the other day. Then he thought about it and wondered why the boy wasn't sitting with them in the first place, but he knew better then to ask.

Sasuke looked down at his phone and thought about that blog update he had meant to make recently, but he didn't really feel like doing it now, same as before. To pass the time he asked Naruto some other questions about bands and who he'd seen live and who he wanted to see. Sasuke had some of the shared interests, but his swayed towards rock as they came to newer music while Naruto went in a more pop direction. He agreed with him though.

"The 80's were a good decade I have to say, I mean everyone hates it but I think its totally underrated. It's probably due to the platform boots." Naruto laughed at that.

"I would fall over and never be seen again." he contributed, Sasuke laughed this time. Not really noticing it, some people around them did. Gaara looked up the instant it slipped out and glared at the boy sitting with Sasuke. He wasn't sure why, but he was angry at him for making Sasuke laugh.

Sakura had be secretly watching Sasuke from the moment he stepped into class and wanted to reach out to him, make him laugh too. It was a hopeless idea, but she still yearned for it.

"Amazing that, would your pride be too wounded to show your face again?" Sasuke countered, still smiling. Naruto laughed this time and looked Sasuke straight in the eye, "Yep, that's it. I would be so embarrassed that I feel off eight inch platform bots to ever show my face at the school again."

"Shame, I think it would be a lovely comedy act. Something for a bad sitcom." Naruto gaped at him and playfully pouted, "Well I hate to disappoint but I wont even tough boots in my life just for fear that I will fall over, thanks to you."

"Hey I didn't say it, you did. But whatever floats your boat." Sasuke made a dismissive gesture with his had as the teacher finally walked in and began t talk about how they should be nearly done and that they had to turn in a sketch by tomorrow. For Sasuke that was no problem, he had plenty of things stored away he could just hand in.

Neji somehow managed to detach himself from Gaara and joined them at the table to work on the project.

"So we have to pick an emotion and a way to express it as well as an example of another artist of the same emotion or something of the like," Sasuke drawled, feeling slightly more talkative at the moment.

Naruto noticed the change in temperament the moment Neji sat down, he wondered what had happened to make him feel that way but it wasn't important right now.

"So, do you guys want to meet up after school at the park tomorrow?" Naruto asked after a short moment of awkward silence. Neji nodded his head and Sasuke simply said, "Sure," and went back to looking at his phone. Naruto had the urge to look at what he was doing but he knew that would not be welcomed by the other.

Sasuke was scrolling though his pictures, being bored and not wanting to look up and chance getting Neji's attention, but he wanted to also continue to talk to Naruto. He guy was funny and nice, he also had impeccable music taste.

Naruto wanted lunch to come faster. It always took forever for it to come around and then it was over, he barely had time to eat sometimes. That could also have something to do with Kiba and how distracting he could be sometimes. He looked over at Neji, the kid seemed to be strange, or at least he seemed to have hidden intentions.

Currently he was looking over at Gaara and Sakura working on their project and smiling, Naruto bet it was intended for the redhead. He had mixed feelings about Sakura, he had heard that she had said many rude things and he had been a witness himself, but she seemed like a nice enough person otherwise. But on that account he decided that he didn't like her all that much and would do his best to avoid her.

Sasuke looked up at Naruto and decided that he could chance it, maybe. Naruto had given him and Neji his number the day before, but he hadn't texted it but he could now.. maybe they could talk some more about bands and he could get to know him better. The guy was interesting.

"Hey, Sasuke. I hate waiting for lunch. Sup?" Sasuke wanted to hit himself for saying the last question, it was stupid; nothing was going on, but he guessed it was harmless.

Naruto looked up and met his eyes, smiling, and replied; "Looking at my dash, you? And I know! I'm so hungrrrryyyyyyy." Sasuke was tempted to laugh at that, he could piratically hear the wine in his text. Even if they were sitting right across from each other they felt the need to be quiet like the rest of the class and the teacher was buried behind a pile of books writing something and didn't play much attention to the rest of the class.

"Oh boohoo, jk i'm hungry too. :/" Naruto clicked on the message and read it, there was about five more minutes until the end of class and he would be free! But for some reason he didn't feel like eating with the rest of his friends. He wanted to be alone somewhat, maybe be around someone who didn't talk all that much.

He was feeling the need to write some songs or something, he wrote when he felt inspiration. He usually felt it when he was on walks or when he listed to good music, he could go out of the filed and sit there. It was calm and it was still tolerable outside.

The bell rang and they all got up from their seats. Naruto left the classroom before Sasuke, but gave him one last look and smiled before the door cut him out of sight.

* * *

><p>Also, if I made any mistakes feel free to point them out seeing as I don't have a beta at the moment. Thanks for reading, please R &amp; R, also I plan on making a LOTR (LegolasxAragorn) fic up soon and (this one sooner i think) a HP (DracoxHarry). If you have any suggestions feel free to let me know what you think as well.<p> 


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